salinity for snails and invertebrates

duhwun

duhwun

Member
Earlier i had problems with my snails and hermits. for some reason my snails wont open up when i put them into the water, i acclimate them the way this site tells me to and still they dont seem to open up. What is wrong with my water? the salinity in the tank is about 1.024-1.025, the temp is 80F, nitrate less than 10, nitrite 0, ammonia close to none, i still dont kno whats wrong with my tank.
Then i also have advice from some people in this forum to slowly raise my salinity to 1.026 because invertebrates need it to shed their shells. So if i want to keep both snails and invertebrates what should my salinity be then? my ph is around 7.8-8. Thx, any help would be greatly appreciated, my head is going nuts now because my snails keep on dieing =(
 
devilboy

devilboy

Member
i keep my salinity at 1.026. i had a problem with snails they would constantly be falling off the glass or rocks. and especially the Astrea snails they can not flip themselfs over so i would have to flip them back over by hand. and if i did not seem them flipped over in time they would die. It could be you are just getting a bad batch of snails also. or maybe too many snails and not enough food to go around. or they are being acclimated wrong. i have tried many ways on acclimating snails. i have found the most effect way was to put then snails into a dry empty cup or plate. and once they expell water out, i put them on top of a powerhead thats at the surface of the water, or on the glass at the top of the water line and once they are comfortable they will start to wander around...
 
db

db

Member
Inverts and other reef creatures are going to be happier with a higher PH than what you have. It is also possible that your salinity is not what you think unless you use a refractometer. I've found both the swing arm and the floating hydrometer's to be off by a significant amount. You could easily be running lower or higher than you think.
 
jamie814

jamie814

Member
Originally Posted by 1journeyman
Copper?
thats exacty what I was going to say. Where are you getting your water from? are you using ro or ro/di water if not I would test for copper. Even if the tank has had copper used in it in the past freshwater or saltwater you can never keep inverts in it. Even the smallest amount of copper will kill them. your salility is fine as long as it is what you think it is, inverts usually 1.024 - 1.026 is perfect a ph of 7.8 is a little low 8.2 better but that should not be killing them.
 
mikeyjer

mikeyjer

Active Member
Originally Posted by jamie814
thats exacty what I was going to say. Where are you getting your water from? are you using ro or ro/di water if not I would test for copper. Even if the tank has had copper used in it in the past freshwater or saltwater you can never keep inverts in it. Even the smallest amount of copper will kill them. your salility is fine as long as it is what you think it is, inverts usually 1.024 - 1.026 is perfect a ph of 7.8 is a little low 8.2 better but that should not be killing them.
Copper can kill them YES, but the tank that's been treated before CAN be cleaned out and reused for inverts again!!! I have ran copper in my display tank before, I have then cleaned it and used carbon filter. I keep inverts and corals in there now without a problem. So it can be done!!! :happyfish
 
T

thomas712

Guest
Just a quick thought. check all power cords going into the water, look for any possible damaged areas, including the seals where they go into the device, copper wires can become exposed from heat and wear.
Just a heads up.
Thomas
 
mikeyjer

mikeyjer

Active Member
Originally Posted by Thomas712
Just a quick thought. check all power cords going into the water, look for any possible damaged areas, including the seals where they go into the device, copper wires can become exposed from heat and wear.
Just a heads up.
Thomas
That's a great thought!!!

As to what I've noticed with rubber, it becomes thin and damaged over time in saltwater. I'm thinking about getting some flexible tubing and silicone it all the way around the wires to prevent that from happening down the road. :happyfish
 
duhwun

duhwun

Member
I noticed a little rust in one of my powerheads in the sump, the four screws that keep the pump together is rusting , you guys think this is the root of the problem? I also started the tank first with tapwater and conditioner, but i did couple of water changes with r/o water already. This tank been operating for like 3 months already. I get my water from the drinking water store, i believe its r/o water they are selling. If that was the problem then how could i fix this? plz help me and thx alot for the earlier feedbacks
 
jamie814

jamie814

Member
Originally Posted by Mikeyjer
Copper can kill them YES, but the tank that's been treated before CAN be cleaned out and reused for inverts again!!! I have ran copper in my display tank before, I have then cleaned it and used carbon filter. I keep inverts and corals in there now without a problem. So it can be done!!! :happyfish
Like you said as long as it has been cleaned well. Also I know that some Ick medications like malactin green or blue can turn the silicon seals colors because it absorbs the chemicals so I would assume that it can also absorbe copper :notsure: And leach small amounts of it overtime back into the tank.
 
mikeyjer

mikeyjer

Active Member
Originally Posted by jamie814
Like you said as long as it has been cleaned well. Also I know that some Ick medications like malactin green or blue can turn the silicon seals colors because it absorbs the chemicals so I would assume that it can also absorbe copper :notsure: And leach small amounts of it overtime back into the tank.
It all depends what type of copper medication was used. Like Copper Safe for example, they dissipate over time. If you do some water changes and run carbon, they'll dissipate in no time. It's been many months now after I did the stuffs, everything is just fine in my tank right now. :happyfish
 
duhwun

duhwun

Member
oh so a carbon filter would do the job? what type of carbon am i looking at. Cuz in my lfs they have several types of carbon, theres one that is around the size of hamster pellets to those that are pretty finely crushed. If i run the carbon filter, how long you think i should run it for?
 
mikeyjer

mikeyjer

Active Member
Originally Posted by duhwun
oh so a carbon filter would do the job? what type of carbon am i looking at. Cuz in my lfs they have several types of carbon, theres one that is around the size of hamster pellets to those that are pretty finely crushed. If i run the carbon filter, how long you think i should run it for?
Use the pebble sized ones. I run them in my tank at all times, so I'm not sure how long you need to run it, I would run it for at least a month or two and do good amount of water changes too! :happyfish
 
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